Being sick around the holidays is sad. Being sick and  at work around the holidays is a travesty. I’m stubborn., which means that I will be at work in sickness and in health, until death do we part (with a few exceptions). This time it was a virus, cold, flu, or some sick combination of all three (no pun intended). It made an appearance the week before Thanksgiving. The worst of it fell on one of my busiest days at the salon. I watched as my client’s stroked their hair protectively and asked “You are just getting over a little cold, right? “. The question seemed more like a suggestion, because while most of them are concerned for me, all of them are (with good reason) gauging my sickness and how it might effect their hair. This is how I didn’t answer:  “No, ma’am. I would like to believe that I am just getting over “a little cold“, but I am actually enjoying the climax of a great, big, massive cold- maybe even the plague. I’ve gone through so many tissues today that I might be singlehandedly responsible for the death of an entire forest, and for at least the next year, I will feel like a hypocrite every time I recycle. But, don’t worry ma’am, your hair will be fine.” Instead, I told them simply that I wasn’t sure exactly what I had, but that I was well enough to perform their service that day.